IDC Predicts Android Wear To Close Gap With watchOS By 2020

In the latest report from IDC, the data crunching company predicts that by the close of 2016, 110 million wearables will have been shipped worldwide. This is a figure which IDC accredits with being a 38.2-percent increase over last year. Back in December of last year, IDC took their predictions a little further stating that they expect wearable devices to reach 214 million units shipped by the end of 2019. Following on from that point, the latest report looks to take their predictions now through to 2020 with IDC expecting as many as 237 million units to be shipped by the close of that year.

In terms of how the predictions for 2016 and 2020 yearly figures breakdown by operating system, IDC notes that by the end of 2016 watchOS will have shipped around 14 million devices and by 2020, IDC predicts this will rise to about 31 million units. In contrast, IDC predicts that by the close of this year, Android Wear will have shipped 6.1 million units. A figure which will then rise to about 28.8 million by the close of 2020. Obviously, the figures do clearly indicate that Apple’s watchOS will continue to dominate both this year and over the next few years up to 2020. However, what is interesting is how the difference between watchOS and Android Wear changes over that time period.

As the predictions highlight, watchOS looks to be almost doubling the number of Android Wear units by the end of 2016, that gap significantly closes by the end of 2020. This can be best seen in the overall market share that IDC lists. For watchOS, the market share for 2016 is predicted to be 49.4-percent, in contrast to Android Wear’s predicted market share of only 21.4-percent. By the end of 2020 however, the market share between the two operating systems become more closer with watchOS expected to see 37.6-percent share and Android Wear to obtain a 35-percent market share. IDC do comment on other platforms as well including RTOS, Tizen, Android, Linux and Pebble OS. However, generally speaking, IDC predicts their respective market shares to all remain under the 10-percent marker by 2020. With the exception of RTOS (Real-Time Operating System) who just briefly are expected to pass the 10-percent market (10.1%) by 2020. You can see a full breakdown of the predicted figures in the chart below or head through the source link to read the latest IDC report in more detail.